Creating The Ethical Mind Within the Creation of Art

Maria Scuderi

Survey of Art Ed. 8730

April, 2013

Creating The Ethical Mind Within the Creation of Art

         Art education is an area that remains flexible and open for interpretation. As an art educator I can choose to be lazy and stick to templates, formulas and conformed mimicry or I can think deeply and creatively about what teaching methods will best serve my students in attaining more then just lessons on how to draw.
The other day I received a gift, an offering from my mentor. She had brought it into class with the intention of giving it away, even though it had great personal value to her. It sat on the offering table for someone to claim. When I noticed that no one had chosen it I was happy to claim it for my own. This gift was thin, flat and the size of a piece of paper. It was a light gold color with black print in the center. The print was a quote that was framed with a simple black border. What did it say, you ask? Why was it so valuable? This is what is said:

“You don't have to do great things, but the little things you are doing in your sphere of influence can be done with great conviction, great wisdom, great beauty, and great love.” (Ruth Krehbial Jacobs) In my opinion, my mentor’s personal conviction to do great work and be an exemplary role model used this quote as, what Howard Gardner calls, her positive “booster shot” a “periodic inoculation” for the ethical mind. (Gardner, 2008, pg. 135)

In studying to become an art teacher I have persevered while overcoming obstacles that tried to throw me off tract and temptations that tried to distract me and weaken my discipline. My faith in my abilities was all I had to keep me going.  I was told at a younger age that I would not be a good candidate for becoming a teacher and I let that belief take me in other directions. Those directions always ended in jobs where I was aiding, coaching, counseling and training others. This is what made me happy and gave me confidence to forge my way into following my passion. Howard Gardner, in his book, 5 Minds for the Future, says we all want to live in a world “characterized by good work, which is ethical, engaging and excellent.” Within the Ethical Mind chapter he states, “Max Weber describes the religious foundation of a “vocation” that goes beyond perfunctory performance and reflects our heartfelt response to divine calling…” (2008, pg. 127) I heard my calling and I answered it. So here I am a certified art teacher ready to do good work within the classroom, the school, the community and beyond. I feel responsible for presenting thought provoking, engaging and meaningful art processes that will give my students more then just a finished product. I want to give them meaningful sustenance to thrive off of. While thinking in terms of how to implement an ethical mind, for myself as a mentor, and for my students, as creative problem solvers and artistic inventors, I have adopted Gardner’s Four M’s. These 4 M’s are used as “signposts toward the achievement of good work”. (2008, pg.148) For me, as a teacher planning lessons, and for my students, executing them, it is beneficial to have, 1) a Mission/goal. There are many examples on Gardner’s website for The Good Works Projects that could be turned into art lessons with ethical minded ideas. The Family Dinner Project, is one example, see the link below.

For those students that don't have the opportunity to gather around a family dinner table to “talk about things that matter”, students could conceptualize a way of creating a virtual or real space dedicated to the sharing of stories and creating connections over dinner conversation.
This big idea gives students a mission to create something with a purposeful goal that can have positive effects long after they graduate. (Harvard Project Zero, 2012) http://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/insights-finding-a-voice

Being a good role model is my priority but even I need good models and this is number two of the 4 M’s. Models are those that are accessible, they shine a light on good practices, good behaviors and for young artists good socially conscious art works. For teachers and students in the 21^st century it is imperative that we realize what it means to be a global citizen. Helping students become aware of how their actions or non-actions have an affect is just as important, and I would argue, even more, than teaching them two-point perspective. Showing students contemporary art by young artists that have had a positive impact on more then just a letter grade can ignite new curiosities and inspirations beyond a solo art piece. A new favorite artists JR, a French street artist, uses his camera to “show the world its true face”. Students would be able to relate to the fact that he started out doing graffiti and most likely be fascinated by his story and how he wants to use art to, “turn the world inside out”. (Ted Talks, 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAy1zBtTbw

Another good example for younger students is the Classes4Classes-Kids Pay it 4ward project. Founder Kaitlin Roig is a teacher that survived the Sandy Hook shootings in December 2012

“By creating an environment where students learn to care for others not by talking but by doing, we cultivate a message that our lives are not separate, but in fact completely connected. When we teach kindness, compassion, love and empathy, there is no room for hate.” (Roig, 2013)

https://www.classes4classes.org/

The last two M’s are, 3) Mirror test –individual version and 4) Mirror test-professional responsibility. Both have to do with metaphorically looking into the mirror and asking, “Am I being a good worker-and, if not, what can I do to become one?” or is my coworker or friend being professional/appropriate and attending to necessary work and, if not, am I responsible for turning a blind eye? “With the assumption of authority and maturity comes the obligation to monitor what our peers are doing and, when necessary, to call them to account.” (Gardner, 2008, pg. 149) In my opinion, developing an ethical mind capacity through art education is important for more then just the individual student but for society at large. However Gardner claims that developing an ethical mind, which is more of an abstract way of thinking, should come during the secondary years. I understand that preschoolers may not be able to cognitively grasp the idea yet, in the ethical mind chapter, he gives great examples of how children, preschool age, are being taught these kind of behaviors and practices by ways of observing, the good works of their parents and teachers in the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy. Preschool students may not be able to understand how to use ethics in making decisions but they can be taught the golden rule in many different ways. The rest of Gardner’s minds are; the respectful mind, the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, and the creating mind. I feel like the ethical mind is married to the respectful mind and should follow each other or go hand in hand. For myself, I did not spend years of my middle age and tons of money just to get the opportunity to play and make art with my students all day. Not that both will most definitely take place, but my internal motivation stems from a personal mission to take up the slack in more then just fostering imaginative thinking but to attend to awakening the hearts along with the ethical minds of my students. I am in charge of nurturing and allowing my caterpillars the freedom to explore and follow their instinctive flow. But it is also my duty to guide and present nutritional seeds, during their chrysalis phase. Through contemplation with the Mirror-test and some impressive examples I expect metamorphosis to do its magic and produce inventive, visionary butterflies. Don't get me wrong, I’m certain it wont be as easy as putting my students into a creative cocoon. Each of Gardner’s minds are all elements with their unique principals, that weave together a strong tapestry and beautiful multifaceted mind. The disciplined mind develops through the evolution of any dedicated, internally motivated artist after years of trial and error and steady refinements in craft. The respectful mind can be cultivated through VTS practice, constructive criticism both given and received, and in the detection of differences through deep noticing and the sensitivity to details which opens ones eyes literally and figuratively. Finally the synthesizing mind is a natural progression of all artists. The right brain is usually dominant when conceiving and then implementing imagined possibilities. Synthesizing occurs as the artist sees the big picture, begins to configure and piece together different elements while identifying patterns, creating relationships and drawing conclusions. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, contends that we are transitioning from an information age built on logical, linear, L-directed, or left brain, thinking to a R-directed, right brain, creative thinking that handles synthesis, emotional expression and conceptual thinking. (Pink, 2006)

The good news is that, as an art educator, I have a slight advantage in fertilizing and producing agents of revolutionary change.

            “Building on discipline and synthesis, the creating mind breaks new ground. It puts forth new ideas, poses unfamiliar questions, conjures up fresh ways of thinking, and arrives at unexpected answers. Ultimately, these creations must find acceptance among knowledgeable consumers. By virtue of its anchoring in territory that is not yet rule-governed, the creating mind seeks to remain at least one step ahead of even the most sophisticated computers and robots.”

(Gardner, 2008, pg. 3)

In the preface of Gardner’s book he says he was not aware of Pinks book and that Pink never mentions him in return. I don't think this is unusual since I don't think these ideas are new. Just as most art is built off of preexisting art, these men are presenting the similar ideas and sentiments as the author Mathew Fox in his 2002 book, Creativity, Where the Divine and the Human Meet. And Paul Duncan describes this as “Intersexuality” in his 2010 article titled, Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education. This is the basic idea of the interrelationship between texts, usually in works of literature but is also used in reference to visual texts.

“Creativity is in all of us. If education means to “lead out of” (from the Latin educere), then it is the primary task of school to lead creativity out of every child…to instill the confidence, trust, and ultimately the courage it will take every human to live with chaos and transform it, to live with creativity and honor it. If education fails at this, it fails at its most important task.” (Matthew Fox, 2002)

British scientist Peter Russell comments on how profoundly human culture is overwhelming biological evolution. What now most affects our development is no longer “our genes but our ideas” The human mind has become the dominant creative force on the planet. “If this is true, then it is more important than ever to examine our powers of creativity and learn to discipline them”. (Fox, 2002) Fox uses Lily Yeh as an example of a creative mentor and community role model. Lily started the Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia. Drug addicts have been turned around and taken leadership roles; all ages come together to learn and create beauty where once there was garbage. Ester Wideman, former village board member said, “There are now safe places to sit. There is color and beauty and brightness where there used to be trash. If you walk through trash you feel like trash; if you walk through beauty, you feel beautiful.” http://villagearts.org/

Psychologist Abraham Maslow believed that centering education around creativity was the way to go. “Creative art education may be especially important, not so much for turning out artists or art products, as for turning out better people…we hope for our children that they will become full human beings, and that they will move toward actualizing the potentialities that they have, then the only kind of education that has…such goals is art education.” (Fox, 2002, Pg. 210)

To sum up why it is necessary to forester more then just good art practices but Ethical Mind art practice in conjunction with the 5 minds for the future, I leave you with a quote from art critic and artist Suzi Gablik. She speaks on how necessary it is for artists, and I will add art teachers, to grow from a modern to a postmodern era…”Transformation cannot happen from ever-more manic reproduction and consumption in the marketplace; it is more likely to come from some new sense of service to the whole-from a new intensity in personal commitment…The great collective project has, in fact, presented itself. It is that of saving the earth.”(Fox, 2002, pg. 85) And I believe it is for saving our sense of human community and interconnectedness. 

Time

When thinking of using 'Time' as a metaphor I think of
my hands. I think of what they have done, been through, held, carressed, made, waved hello and goodbye to and how they changed.
And that thought leads me to my body and how I can track time just from specific scars, marks and wrinkles on my body. If I was to photograph, sketch or diagram the appearance of each of these through time, I could create a body time map.

I was thinking of how living in certain climates are easier to remember and account for time. When living in florida, it was so flat, always warm, and the vegetation remained the same. The occassional hurricane or strange alligator incident helped to mark time.
In Oregon, it was a rainforest and green all year, their was winter, or rainny season, and maybe 2.5 months of perfect weather. I would have to use the amount of rainfall or the number of consequitive days in which the sun hid behind the clouds as time trakers. Missouri has noticable change in the seasons and a dramtic difference in the vegetaion. I can tell stories and recount specific times and events based on the wacky Missouri weather. The seasons and the weather are a type of counting of time.

Facilitating Critical and Aesthetic Inquiry

Facilitating Critical and Aesthetic Inquiry:

Engaging Students with Art Objects:

 “Appropriately selected and employed, such strategies can create pathways through which students can enter works of art. Once engaged, students can be moved to other levels of discourse and inquiry.” Just like having many mediums to create art, having just as many paths to actively involve and stimulate meaningful connections with art objects is important. 

Carroll mentions 7 strategies to help facilitate sensory involvement which calls on, 

“intuitive, imaginative, emotional and or physical response to focus or heighten engagement.” (Carroll, 2007, pg. 140)
Being an advocate and participant in Creative Dramatics I chose that strategy as one I would like to investigate more, with Games coming in second. I feel like the others are just as valid and would no doubt use any and all depending on which one would fit best with my lesson plan.

When orchestrating a thought provoking discussion about art it can be an empathetic experience, “when there is an effort to connect what is observed with the viewer’s own world of experience.” And Ping over to a constant thread being woven by many 20^th century educators and post modern art education practices that advocate and stress the importance of creating relevant, personal connections for authentic meaning making.
(Carroll, 2007)

Orchestrating Conversations About Art:

I like the way Carroll says that discussions of art can be interactive, inductive and empathetic. There’s that word again and we are seeing it in many other places from Pink to TedTalks, in documentaries, such as I Am, and brain science findings of the mirror neurons that are said to cause our empathetic response. 

“Understanding art transforms both the viewer and the subject through the involvement of cognitive, physical, and affective domains (Siskar, 2000; Salander, 2001)” (Carroll, 2007)

Of course, my favorite practice is VTS because I can always find more!

Employing Storytelling and Puzzle Problems:

Just as we all unconsciously make first impression judgments based on ones appearance or from gossip or stories about a person, the same can happen with our first encounters with art. I think Carroll makes a good argument about how stories about artists and/or artworks, “may or may not have any bearing on the truth and often distract learners from obtaining more significant information. Worse yet, such stories can diminish the qualities of artwork and misrepresent the character of the artist.” (Carroll, 2007) Carroll suggests that a story, true or not, can create a context for visual explorations and present a problem to be worked out like a puzzle.

Using Interpretive Strategies to Find Meaning:

I understand the way a “theme” can bring unity for aiding in interpretation yet I don't necessarily think it is important to establish it as a first strategy for organizing and controlling the process. Carroll states, “Introducing thematic ideas first also makes a more successful approach than beginning with description. Conversely, interpretations that lack thematic unity tend to be less coherent and fragmented.” (2007, Pg. 152)

After seeing how flexible, democratic and effective VTS is in constructing meaning I don't agree that establishing a theme is important. If the group viewing the art come to this conclusion on their own and agree on a theme then so be it. I do believe that the viewer of art is a, “Co-Producer of Meaning” which states, “the viewer, object, and context are all involved in creating meaning…” and that the meanings found are never finished yet always open to reinterpretations. (2007, Pg. 152)

Promoting Critical Thinking Through Problem-Based Inquiry:

This is self-directed inquiry and peer based learning. The teacher is there to help facilitate and redirect students in the problem solving process.

Shipps suggests discussing a post structural pragmatists aesthetic emphasizing three points: 1) human being are constantly “making up” our world, as we understand it. 2) Humans experience everything as “sign.” 3) Dealing with sings and structures allows us to ascribe meanings to things. (1996)”

Making Art Inspired by the Study of Art:

These ideas seem basic and true. After doing VTS, creative writings, creative dramatics and other forms of investigation of art, cycling back and using the art to inspire ones own

Artistic interpretation is a perfect way to follow up.

I have done this in my own art and was given these kinds of assignments at MU, such as, entering into a dialogue with a chosen artist. I did a piece, a live action video, in dialogue with the artist Sue Coe, based on this illustration:

I chose to investigate the book, Puzzles About Art: An Aesthectics Casebook. By: Battin, M. P Fisher, Moore, r and Silvers, A (1989)

 “The first casebook for use in courses in aesthetics, Puzzles about Art provides more than 180 real and hypothetical cases that illustrate important principles and theories in the philosophy of art. With 25 illustrations as well as concrete examples from legal cases, museum experiences, newspaper articles and various media, including painting, sculpture, photography, music, drama, and film.

The book is organized into 6 chapters: Art and Artworks; Beauty, Ugliness and Aesthetic Experience; Meaning and Interpretation; Creativity and Fidelity; Art and Other Values; and Critical Judgment. Each chapter begins with a 10-page introduction and then provides another 10-25 pages of questions, problems, and case studies. “

http://www.amazon.com/Puzzles-about-Art-Aesthetics-Casebook/dp/0312003072

Facilitating Engagement with the Art-Making Process

" Greater investment arises out of work that is guided by internal motivations to express personally significant ideas. Complex processes, mixed media, and specific challenges can inspire meaningful engagement." (Carrol, Tucker, 2003, pg. 116)

I like this book, I feel that is a wonderful combination of all that we have learned so far with many added strategies to explore. This chapter is nice since I am getting the opportunity to put many of these explorations and processes into my own art making practice for Sharyns class. I am also getting to use them with two very creative homeschooled children that have an amazing amount of self motivation and are exploring and creating every day.
I do agree in a Spiral curriculum in which, "a certain range of materials and processes are periodically revisited to build new skills and suggests new ways materials can accomodate, (new) ideas." (Carrol, Tucker, 2003, pg. 117)

I liked the book by Szekely, G. (1988). Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons. The only article I could find was a review on Amazon:

"Szekely attempted to teach children how to be artists. He states his goal as "to demystify art, and assure children through the teacher's deeds and words, tat art is found in familiar places and ordinary environments, accessible to everyone...bring children closer to art-nearer to themselves." Szekely wrote his book to help spread these ideas among art teachers. Rather than create an environment where a select few talented students shine, Szekely's book suggests ways to create a level playing field between the students and teacher and make art a tangible object in each student's life. The major ideas discussed by Szekely center around breaking away from the traditional teaching of art. Szekely's suggestions for techniques in teaching children art include encouraging children to "be" artists which is a difficult task in the public school system. Szekely believes "that all children are artists, born with the natural ability to observe, to formulate art ideas, and to execute works of art on their own...As children grow up, however, they come to depend on adults to direct their art making. " The art classroom is a place where students execute the ideas and plans of the teacher. The students' natural ability to express themselves through art is hindered by the lesson plans they are assigned. Art becomes an assignment in the classroom, rather than an expression. Szekely states, "The first step in teaching children to make art it to be concerned that they regain their independence. " In the art classroom, students need to forget the formal structure of education and become in tune with their emotions and senses, and then they can begin to learn what it is to be an artist." (A. Wood)
http://www.amazon.com/Encouraging-Creativity-Lessons-George-Szekely/dp/0807728837

I also found was the website for TAB, which I have been linked to on FB for a while now. This was a paragraph explaining their ideas:

"Choice Based Art Education fosters imagination. Teachers all across the country are "discovering" how to motivate children through the method of instruction  known as Choice Based Art Education (Teaching for Artistic Behavior - or TAB™ Choice is an organization of teachers who teach using this method ). Centers are set up in the elementary and middle school art classrooms and students choose which centers to participate in for the day. High school students are self directed in their studies and studio work."

"Nothing in education is more powerful than authentic, student directed, student centered learning experiences constructed from the bottom up. The TAB art education concept allows students opportunities to take ownership of their art experiences from conception to completion with teacher acting as classroom manager, environmental designer, art expert, facilitator, and student mentor." (Clyde Gaw)

http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/

I am a big believer in choice and freedom yet I would also incorporate and teach how to use Big Ideas to become a more thoughtful and intentional artist. 

I also was intrigued by:

Notebooks of the Mind: Explorations of Thinking by: Joh-Steiner, V  (1987)

I found a great review on Amazon:

"How do creative people think? Do great works of the imagination originate in words or in images? Is there a rational explanation for the sudden appearance of geniuses like Mozart or Einstein? Such questions have fascinated people for centuries; only in recent years, however, has cognitive psychology been able to provide some clues to the mysterious process of creativity. In this revised edition of Notebooks of the Mind, Vera John-Steiner combines imaginative insight with scientific precision to produce a startling account of the human mind working at its highest potential.

To approach her subject John-Steiner goes directly to the source, assembling the thoughts of "experienced thinkers"--artists, philosophers, writers, and scientists able to reflect on their own imaginative patterns. More than fifty interviews (with figures ranging from Jessica Mitford to Aaron Copland), along with excerpts from the diaries, letters, and autobiographies of such gifted giants as Leo Tolstoy, Marie Curie, and Diego Rivera, among others, provide illuminating insights into creative activity. We read, for example, of Darwin's preoccupation with the image of nature as a branched tree while working on his concept of evolution. Mozart testifies to the vital influence on his mature art of the wondrous "bag of memories" he retained from childhood. Anais Nin describes her sense of words as oppressive, explaining how imagistic free association freed her as a writer. 

Adding these personal accounts to laboratory studies of thought process, Vera John-Steiner takes a refreshingly holistic approach to the question of creativity. What emerges is an intriguing demonstration of how specific sociocultural circumstances interact with certain personality traits to encourage the creative mind. Among the topics examined here are the importance of childhood mentor figures; the lengthy apprenticeship of the talented person; and the development of self- expression through highly individualistic languages, whether in images, movement or inner speech." (http://www.amazon.com/Notebooks-Mind-Explorations-Vera-John-Steiner/dp/0195108965)